Jarod's Pocketship Build

Slow blog updates! But it is the start of the holidays so that is to be expected. But the boat is still on track. Over thanksgiving I went out and visited family taking my first mate along and we had a grand time tramping around the south west United States. Once I got back I glued up my centerboard and filled the pivot and rope attachment point with epoxy. Very simple. Next I turned my attention to the final details of the keel. I made sure the bottom was nice and flat all the way across with my trusty plane and sander. I had to adjust the pivot hole in the keel as I messed up the alignment a bit. I also had to dig out a 1/2 inch of wood from the vertical support in the aft section of the keel. I thought no big deal go buy a chisel and a couple bangs later I would be done. HA! I got about 3 wacks in and tore a chunk out of the support. At the time I thought I made a massive error and felt like a fool. But after looking at the triangle shape of busted wood I got some thickened epox...

This weekend was about putting it ALL together. All being the keel. I have never in my life been so scared. It started out in a good way, I dropped my centerboard trunk into place, trimmed and adjusted my nose block made a nice little piece of wood to fit between the nose block and centerboard trunk. I was ready to epoxy and this was Saturday morning! First thought that went through my mind is that I am getting REALLY good at this boat building thing, the second was Dunn and Kruger . So I stopped boat building for a few hours, went out spent some time with the first mate looking for important items like LOL Suprise Dolls (didn't find any) then came back. On my return I found the following: The centerboard trunk was reversed, easy fix. The cool dove tail at the rear end of the keel pushed everything forward by 1 centimeter. Not so easy, but not hard. There are these cool holes in the side of the keel that tells you if you fucked up, lucky I found them before I fucked up. S...

So Houston decided to drop into the low 40's! My garage is not insulate so no boat building that weekend. I did manage to glue up 2x6x18 blocks of wood that became my nose block during the week. I also researched the best way to make the rear aft blocking. It is starts out at 1-3/4" and tapers down to 3/4". After some friendly advice and some YouTube searching I found how to assemble a cheap and easy taper jig, using 2 blocks of wood and few screws. Here is the Link to that. So when Saturday morning came I was up and attacking the boat build. Fully covered in bug spray (DAMN YOU BUGS!) and chopping wood. I started with the tapered rear aft blocking. Starting with constructing the jig and running a few pieces of scrap wood through as tests I was ready to chop. Cutting the first side and was super easy, then about 1/2 way thought the cut on the second side I thought I messed up the cut. I was kinda disappointed but decided to try the pattern verse the cut wood and to...

I found some time this week to join together the centerboard. After clamping, it appears to even be the right size! All Clamped up You can see the little board sticking out as I wanted to make sure the 1 inch of space is a sure thing, but after measuring that stick, it was larger than an inch so I pulled it out. After measuring all sides it is in the correct size. That is blood sweat and sawdust right there Also when gluing it together I added WAY more than needed thickened epoxy. The squeeze out was an easy mess to clean up as I took long and thin boards and scraped off the inside. After my learning curve I had a stick for every angle needed. Funny part about this piece is that I was so worried about it turning out wrong I ran out several times to make sure that it wasn't glued inside out and other various terrors that struck me in the middle of the night. Finally I got over my fear and accepted what may come and if it is off a bit I will adjust the best I can and ada...

So I did not make all the goals I wanted this weekend. The reason being I suck at cutting wood, or actually anything to do with wood. For instance on Wednesday night I bought a bunch of wood in 2x1x6 feet and 1.5x1x6 feet. But what I didn't realize is that was actually 1.5x.75x6 feet and 1x.75x6feet chunks of wood. I why wood is labeled this way I do not know. But whatever. Also I learned that hand sawing anything beyond 2 inches even with a guide is near impossible for me, the cuts too me back to high school wood shop, yick! My first version of the wood was wavy and too damn small in all the angles. Two new tools So I first purchased the band saw but discovered that what I thought would be a straight edge on a piece of wood was crappy and rounded and just over all not good. I'm not looking to build a masterpiece of a wooden boat but something that hits the measurements within an 1/8th of inch would be nice. So back to the store for more wood, as I ran out! and I...

So my goals were: 1) Fiberglass the inside centerboard trunk. - Completed Bonus points for the following:             a) Glue spacers in             b) Glue centerboard trunk together No bonus points as I'm not sure if I could sand on Sunday as I put on the last coat at 7:30ish Saturday night. But on Sunday I did take the time to visit the hardware store and buy some closet hanger thingys, and rod to hang the fiberglass. Ended up putting it on the garage wall as it is a little over 4 feet wide and the epoxy command station is a little over 2 feet wide. Then to get the fiberglass rod mounted I needed to reclaim some of my garage space. Per pocketship.net CLC recommends storing flat instead of vertical. So out comes another folding table into my back guest bedroom. I cut all remaining parts out of the plywood (soooo tired) and moved them back there. Then once that was moved I leaned the cradle MDF (uncut) against the w...

    So doing the centerboard trunk inside face fiber glassing. At first, I attempted to just dump the mixed epoxy (2 hardener, 2 resin) then brush outward from the center. This did not work so well. So after a bit of experimenting I found that if I leave the mix in the cup, dumping a small line of it where I wanted to apply. Then once I got my line I would lightly spread it out and then work it into the glass with my brush. Once I ran out of mix (4 hard / 4 Resin) I would make another batch. Takes approx. 5 batches of 4 hardener and 4 resin to do the centerboard wetting out. It looks just like all the pictures in the manual and internet so I'm guess I'm on the right path. I have learned my first skill needed to make boat repairs in exotic places. Worst part was I forgot to put on bug spray and the mosquitoes had a very large breakfast. 1st coat wetting out the glass After 2 hours i went back out and checked and it is tacky so i applied coat number2! Only issue is the...

So I made my first amount of progress tonight. My plan for the build is to do what I can to prep for the weekend like cutting wood, glass getting tools or whatever. Then do nothing but fiberglass and gluing on the weekend. Basically prep in the week, plan Friday night / Saturday morning then get shit done. This week my goal is to have the centerboard trunk epoxied and glassed. Bonus points for getting the wood spacer between it glued on to one side or the entire thing in box form. My first step read the manual and understand. I read all the way through and then again over the first part which is making the keel. I went out to the garage and and cut out the parts I need to make it happen. tomorrow I will sand the tabs that are left over (next to none thanks to that handy saw!) as well as setup the table to glass on. Little did I know I would have assistance in the form of my daughter helping out, sawing a couple tabs off herself (not to shabby!) and dancing around throwing sawdust...

The wood shipment was a little funny getting to my garage. So I schedule the first time and tell them it is residential thinking that would mean lift-gate but nope it doesn't. They want me to pull 800 pounds of wood off the back of the truck and while it might be possible it seems crazy to me as i read about how fragile the tabs are holding the pieces in the plywood. So i reschedule, but once it arrives on a life gate, the damn thing is sooooo big it almost doesn't fit on the lift gate! But between the guy and I we wiggle it on the gate and it hangs off the end at a concerning angle but makes it off the trunk. Then between the pallet jack on one side and the hand trunk on the other we get into the garage ready to rock! Fresh off the truck! Just follow the instructions stupid, it's easy!

I suck at any kind of handyman item, my tools are 5 old flathead screw drivers, some hammers, a crappy drill, a nice drill my dad bought me. So tools are a must! Quick research shows I need all sorts of tools Something to cut wood with: I settle on the Japanese saw on CLC, but buy on amazon cause free shipping and 3 bucks cheaper! I could have got a jig saw but I would probably fuck it up. Epoxy supplies: Mask, eye protection, gloves, sticks to stir, cups to stir in, Brushes, plastic wrap, blue painters tape. Sanding: I get a Rigid 5 inch random orbital, tons of 80, 120, 220 sandpaper. a shopvac and a tube to connect to the sander. Lights! I replace my crappy single bulb lights in my car garage with 4 foot 26000 lumen LED lights. CLAMPS- I settle on bar clamps, thank you habor freight for 2 dollar 24 inch bar clamps. I want at least 30. MISC: i got a 7 inch block plane, and a 12 pack of shiner brew to start. I spend the three weeks while waiting for my pocketship kit to ...

I sit at my job daydreaming about sailing around the world. I'm tired of 290 traffic, I'm tired of working weekends. I long for the silence of the ocean, the youtube videos that are my favorite have no sound but the wind, waves and gentle tapping of the rigging. I have never sailed in my life, I have never even been on a boat bigger than my dads 20 foot jet boat. Yet as I watch all these youtube videos of people sailing around, some have issues, some appearing to be high and drunk but all of them sailing. I have set a date. I will quit whatever job I am working at on Aug 1st 2027 and I will sail around the world. So I start with the basics, I read and watch and research all these different people sailing around and recording it. I compare their boats, I research the costs. I see what I need. Funny thing is it just appears you need a will to do it. Sell everything, buy a boat and just go! I would have but I have a daughter so I make a 10 year plan instead. 1) At the en...